Liverpool have been reduced to 7 points by Arsenal and Chelsea in the rankings. Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher's mistake in the final minutes caused The Kop to concede a goal to the home team. After the wins over Real Madrid and Man City, this loss of points against Newcastle showed that The Kop is slowing down a bit.
Newcastle is not easy for the teams competing for the championship this season. The proof is that they won by a minimum against Arsenal and drew with Man City. The Magpies are no longer as "hampered" as in the previous two seasons but are still a heavy enough test to measure the strength of the Premier League giants.
"In the first half, we had a lot of problems with their intensity and somewhat aggressive approach to the game. Newcastle's pressing is so burning that Liverpool sometimes make mistakes. It was not until the second half that the whole team calmed down to play better. Liverpool dominated, leading 3-2 but dropped points with just a few minutes left" - Arne Slot shared.
This is the third time Liverpool have dropped points this season in the Premier League, after losing to Nottingham and drawing with Arsenal. It came at a time when the Anfield team had just experienced a passionate level of competition. Arne Slot's students looked tired. Typically, like Ryan Gravenberch, he has played the full 90 minutes in all 18 of Liverpool's matches in the Premier League and Champions League since the beginning of the season.
When he was too tired, Gravenberch started to make mistakes or was weaker in one-on-one challenges than usual. Against Newcastle, he won only 2/7 challenges, received a yellow card and was substituted in the middle of the second half.
The defense is also starting to feel the heat from the tight schedule. Injuries like Ibrahima Konate (knee), Conor Bradley (hamstring) and Kostas Tsimikas ( ankle) all make it more difficult for Arne Slot to manage when arranging factors in the defense. In the past, center back Jarell Quansah used to play as a right-back but since joining the first team, he has never returned to that role. However, against Newcastle, Quansah was arranged by Slot on the right wing and did not have a very good performance.
The draw with Newcastle was the first time Liverpool conceded 3 goals in a match. They gave Newcastle an expected goalscoring rate of 2.09. Before the Magpies, the team with the highest xG when facing Liverpool since the beginning of the season until now was Aston Villa (1.38).
Up front, Darwin Nunez has only scored 1 goal in the last 9 matches. Since the beginning of the season, the Uruguayan striker has played 18 times but only scored 3 goals, which is a very alarming situation. The increasingly dense match schedule, combined with the declining physical strength of the players, can lead to a series of injuries in the coming time. The draw with Newcastle is the second of nine matches for the "Red Brigade" from now until the end of 2024.
The draw with Newcastle is not an alarming result for Liverpool as their position in the Premier League and Champions League remains solid. However, the current problems are starting to become clear and this is the time for Slot to prove his ability to handle, which has caused the legendary Jurgen Klopp to fail many times in previous years.
